The role of references and the elusive nature of the chemical bond

The role of references and the elusive nature of the chemical bond | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The role of references and the elusive nature of the chemical bond Ángel Martín, Evelio Francisco This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1533794/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 09 Jun, 2022 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Chemical bonding theory is of utmost importance to chemistry. We argue that there is still plenty of unexplored territory, and that both internal and external reference biases remain in the standard model of the chemical bond. The former affect the basic notion of wavefunction interference, which is purportedly recognized as the most basic bonding mechanism. The latter influence how bonding models are chosen. After unveiling these different biases, we advocate for the use of real space analyses, which are as reference-less as possible. Delocalisation emerges as the reference-less equivalent to interference and the ultimate root of bonding. Atoms (or fragments) in molecules should be understood as a statistical mixture of components differing in electron number, spin, etc. Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files supp.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 09 Jun, 2022 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-1533794","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":97812529,"identity":"7bb1391c-4937-41ee-ade2-a774b7a13bd1","order_by":0,"name":"Ángel Martín","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNACNgYGfiB1gIFBggQtkg0kazE4QKxi/mlnDz4uKLOzN76Re/DAxzYLBn5+ApolbuclG884l5y47UZewsGZbRIMkjMSCFhzO8dMmreNOcHsRo7BYZ4zEgwGNwjokL+dY/6bt63e3ngGVIv9eQIOMwDawszbdphxgwRISwXQFgYCDjME+kWa59zxxBln3hgcnFEhwSNxg4AWudu5Bz/zlFXb87fnGH/4YFAnx99PwGEMDDx4ucRoGQWjYBSMglGAAQDArUB2gvUeOAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4471-4000","institution":"Universidad de Oviedo","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ángel","middleName":"","lastName":"Martín","suffix":""},{"id":97812530,"identity":"e6ed912f-7e98-4929-85cb-d3ad614c281b","order_by":1,"name":"Evelio Francisco","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universidad de Oviedo","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Evelio","middleName":"","lastName":"Francisco","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2022-04-07 16:26:34","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-1533794/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1533794/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31036-6","type":"published","date":"2022-06-09T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":20256099,"identity":"7f165831-44bb-4797-bce9-11215a99443f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2022-04-12 16:08:00","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1508834,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"supp.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1533794/v1/4e25faa1ba038f201f7642f2.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"The role of references and the elusive nature of the chemical bond","fulltext":[{"header":"Full Text","content":"This preprint is available for \u003ca href='/article/rs-1533794/latest.pdf' target='_blank'\u003edownload as a PDF\u003c/a\u003e."}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-1533794/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1533794/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Chemical bonding theory is of utmost importance to chemistry. 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